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Ministry of ComTech Launches Digital Girls ICT Clubs
Ministry of Communication Technology has launched 12 Digital Girls ICT Clubs across the six geo political zones of the country across the six geo political zones at the Federal Government Girls College, Bwari, Abuja.
The Digital Girls Club initiative is an early intervention project of the Ministry of Communication Technology aimed at empowering and encouraging Nigerian girls in secondary schools to develop an early interest in ICT.
The initiative will also help demystify ICTs and project technology as a viable career option that can empower and impact positively on the future of the girls.
The Digital Girls Club is part of the Girls and Women initiative of the federal government geared at empowering Nigerian women and girls.
The administration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in a bid to empower women and girls in Nigeria created a gender empowerment scheme titled Girls and Women in Nigeria (G-WIN) with the sole aim of positively impacting and improving the lot of women and girls in Nigeria.
To enable this empowerment process, five Ministries- Ministry of Communication Technology, Agriculture, Works, Health and Water Resources signed MOUs with the Ministry of Women Affairs and Finance to empower women and girls through specific interventions and services geared at improving the lives of women and girls in Nigeria.
The Ministry of Communication Technology, a key partner in the G-WIN project is empowering women and girls through specific technology initiatives it has identified and developed to empower and enable Nigerian women and girls actualize their potentials.
The Digital Girls ICT Clubs being launched in I2 federal government girls’ schools across the 6 geopolitical zones, in the country is a pilot that will help demystify ICTs and project technology as a viable career option that can empower and impact positively on the future of the girls.
1200 girls from the 12 pilot will be impacted upon in the first instance and the Clubs will be set up across all the Federal Government colleges in all the states of the federation later A curriculum that will excite, transform and positively impact on the girls has been developed and the curriculum, the girls will be taught relevant technology skills that will transform their lives.
A portal www.digitalgirls.org.ng has been created to act as a key tool for also stimulating and empowering the girls to embrace and adopt ICTs.
The aim of these Clubs is to remove the barriers that discourage girls from embracing ICTs. To ensure sustainability and build capacity, the Girls Club will collaborate with ICT teachers of the various schools to teach exciting programmes that will interest the girls. E.g. quizzes, ICT games, application development, animation, website development, blogging, graphics design, games, computer programming etc.
The Clubs will be manned by professionals who will play a key role in stimulating the interest of the girls. Periodically mentors will be invited to give inspiring talks and participate in various ICT related activities that will interest the girls.
The aim of these Clubs is to help to encourage young girls to embrace ICTs in order to bridge the existing digital divide between males and females. Current statistics in Nigeria reveals that Nigerian women make up 50% of the population but hold less than 20% of ICT jobs in the country.
Also only about 33% of women are online in Nigeria. The Broadband Commission Working Group on Broadband and Gender in a new report entitled “’Doubling Digital Opportunities: Enhancing the inclusion of women and girls in the information society’’ lamented the pervasive gap in access of women to ICTs globally.
According to the report, there are currently 200 million fewer women online than men and this yawning gap could grow to 350 million in three years.
The report also reveals that globally women are coming online later and more slowly than men.
The report added that, of the world’s 2.8 billion Internet users, only 1.3 billion are women. The report states that women account for fewer than 20% of ICT specialists in developing economies.
The report also estimated that, by 2015, 90% of formal employment across all sectors will require ICT skills.
The Digital Girls clubs will be deployed to remove the barriers that discourage girls from embracing ICTs.
The goal is to ensure that more girls embrace and adopt ICTs. The Clubs will be manned by the ICT teachers of the twelve schools who will play a key role in stimulating the interest of the girls.
Periodically mentors will be invited to give inspiring talks and participate in various ICT related activities that will interest the girls.
The Clubs will teach a number of ICT skills including building websites and games, computer programming, graphics design, assembling and dissembling computers and creating short films.
The Clubs will provide learning in a fun and engaging way and direct technical assistance for the girls. It will also provide a forum where the girls can easily interact with mentors.
The activities in the club which will be done on a weekly basis will deepen the girls’ technical skills as they are introduced to additional concepts and skills.
The girls will also participate in a mixture of classes and workshops, presentations and excursions.
In her comments Mrs. Omobola Johnson, minister of Communication Technology said ‘’We need to increase the participation of women and girls in ICTs. Getting more girls into ICTs is a task we are committed to at the Ministry of Communication Technology. We want to ensure that Nigerian girls encouraged and empowered to embrace ICTs.
It is critical to get girls to adopt ICTs so that they are not left behind in the digital revolution changing communities and nations across the globe. Our desire is that the Digital Girls ICT Clubs will empower Nigerian girls and lead to the development of an army of ICT compliant girls that will contribute to the economic growth and empowerment of Nigeria in the future’’.
Questions have been mounting over the House of Representatives threat to order the arrest of the Director-General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Mrs. Bisoye Coker-Odusote for failure to appear before it to answer charges on refusal to pay for a state-of-the-art software development project executed by a private company, Truid Limited, for NIMC.
The House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions had invited the NIMC DG, Mrs. Coker-Odusote, to appear before it to explain the commission’s failure to pay for the state-of-the art software development project executed by the private company, Truid Limited for NIMC. However, the NIMC DG has repeatedly failed to honour the committee’s invitation in person.
The Committee’s Chairman, Honourable Mike Etaba, who was angered by the NIMC DG, Mrs. Coker-Odusote’s failure to appear before the committee to personally answer charges on the matter after repeated invitations, last month, issued a stern warning to order the Inspector-General of Police, to arrest the NIMC DG, Mrs. Coker-Odusote if she refused to appear before the committee at its next hearing, which was fixed for March 13, 2025.
However, it has been over two weeks after the Committee’s sitting of March 13, 2025; yet, there are no indications that the NIMC DG, Mrs. Coker-Odusote, honoured the committee’s invitation by personally appearing before it. The committee also appears to have failed to order the IGP to arrest her, leading to many raising questions over the seriousness of the committee to execute its threats. Others wonder why the chief executive of a government agency would refuse to personally appear before the House of Representatives to answer charges on a petition regarding the agency’s activities.
During its sitting of February 11, 2025 the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions threatened to order the arrest of the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Bisoye Coker-Odusote.
The committee said it would actualise the threat if Mrs. Coker-Odusote failed to come in person to answer charges on her refusal to pay for the state-of-the-art software development project.
Chairman of the committee, Mike Etaba, frowned at the continuous absence of the NIMC director-general despite several invitations.
In a statement by the Media Head, Public Petitions Committee of the House of Representatives, Chooks Oko, the Chairman of the Committee stated: “If she fails to show up at the next hearing of this case, we’ll have no option than to ask the Inspector-General of Police to bring her.
“How can an official of government treat constituted authority with such levity? We can no longer condone such attitude,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the project was installed and deployed to the commission by a private firm, Truid Limited, which was alleging a breach of licence agreement by NIMC.
The statement added that the private company, Truid Limited, which executed the state-of-the-art software development project, is alleging a breach of licence agreement by NIMC, noting that E. R. Opara, counsel to Truid Limited, stated that the contract is premised on an arrangement whereby the Truid Limited funded, developed and deployed the “tokenization system project” without any financial obligation from NIMC.
According to E. R. Opara, counsel to Truid Limited, the agreement is premised on an arrangement that the project would be funded by the firm.
“Truid Ltd was to get returns on her investment through patronage of service providers and the proceeds shared on an agreed ratio. This was to run for an initial period of 10 years, from 2021 when the software was deployed,” Opara said.
According to the petition, things were going smoothly until the appointment of the new DG of NIMC, Mrs. Coker-Odusote, who has been trying to truncate the agreement.
When contacted to comment on whether or not the DG NIMC has personally appeared before the committee, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions, Honourable Mike Etaba said: “For now, that matter has been stepped down!”
Honourable Etaba explained further why the matter was stepped down: “We are now taking that case on an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) route. That’s where the matter is now,” he said, adding, “the Committee is silent on it (the matter) until they give us the report of the ADR. That is when we will know what next to do.”
Asked when the ADR resolution he mentioned is meant to be concluded, Honourable Etaba stated: “I can’t say for now how and when the ADR will come up. That’s the situation of the case for now.”
The Lagos State Governor, His Excellency Babajide Sanwo-Olu has commended Africa’s leading e-commerce platform, Jumia Nigeria, for its giant strides and in the growth of the country’s e-commerce sector, as well as its unique contributions to its economic development.
He said that Jumia has earned its place as a major brand, with its growth and trajectory in the country’s e-commerce ecosystem over the years which, he said, has made it a household name. He urged the company to not only strive to maintain its excellent service standards, but to also work towards improving them.
The Governor who was speaking during a courtesy visit by the management of Jumia Nigeria to the State House in Marina on Thursday March 27, reaffirmed the strategic importance of the company in the economic development of Lagos State and Nigeria, especially in job creation.
He restated his administration’s commitment in ensuring that Lagos State remains environmentally friendly for businesses to grow.
“Our administration has always prioritized creating an enabling environment for businesses to thrive. Through various initiatives, we have strengthened the ease of doing business, and fostered innovation to drive economic growth, and we will continue to support businesses and create opportunities that will aid in their growth”, Sanwo-Olu said.
Governor Sanwo-Olu said that the Lagos State Government remains open to collaborations with the private sector to enhance service delivery, infrastructure development, and create opportunities for residents, with the aim of building a resilient and sustainable future.
He said the administration recognises the importance of working with the private sector to achieve its goals of improving the lives of its citizens.
Speaking also, the Chief Executive Officer of Jumia Nigeria, Sunil Natraj, thanked the governor for creating an enabling environment in the state for businesses like Jumia to grow. He stated Jumia’s commitment to contributing towards the growth and development of the state, and the country.
Natraj said the company has made tremendous strides from its early days as a tech start-up in Lagos and has grown to become the number one e-commerce platform in Nigeria, with a presence in nine African countries. He said the company presently employs hundreds of Nigerians directly, and thousands more indirectly as independent sales agents and partners.
He restated Jumia Nigeria’s commitment to providing excellent service, focusing on delivering exceptional value and fostering long-term relationships with its customers around the country.
Among other things, he said the company is actively working to enhance customer experience, aiming to simplify the e-commerce process, making it easier for customers to navigate and shop online.
According to him, Jumia aims to transform everyday life in Africa by making it easier for consumers to access goods and services conveniently and affordably, adding that the company is focused on expanding access to retail across the country.
Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has announced its readiness for the capital market with an Initial Public Offer (IPO) now in the final stage.
Mr. Olugbenga Oluwaniyi, chief finance and investor relations officer (CFIO), NNPC, stated this at a consultative meeting with partners at the NNPC Towers, Abuja, on Thursday.
He said the move aligned with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021.
He said NNPCL was currently engaging with prospective partners in an exercise tagged: “NNPC Ltd. IPO Beauty Parade” in line with capital market regulations before the commencement of the IPO.
According to the CFIO, the aim of the IPO Beauty Parade is to assess potential partners and determine in what ways they could be of support to the company.
He listed the areas of partnership required to include Investor Relations, IPO Readiness Advisors, and Investment Bank Partners.
He said the company with the best offer in terms of project partnership would be selected for each of the three categories.
The PIA provides for NNPCL to list its shares in the capital market in line with the provisions of the Company and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 1990.
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